Rhinophototherapy, an alternative treatment of allergic rhinitis: Systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Allergic rhinitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the nasal mucosa, mediated by immunoglobulin E, affecting 1 in 6 individuals. The treatment aims at attaining symptomatic control with minimal side effects, a requirement for new alternative therapies, including phototherapy, as it has an immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory effect. OBJECTIVE: To identify the effectiveness of phototherapy in the treatment of allergic rhinitis through a meta-analysis. METHODS: We searched Web of Science, Scielo, PubMed, SCOPUS, PEDro, and LILACS databases, using the terms: “intranasal irradiation”, “phototherapy” and “allergic rhinitis”. The R software Metafor package was used for the meta-analysis and the effect size was calculated for each symptom individually. RESULTS: All symptoms decreased considerably after phototherapy: rhinorrhea (ES• = −1.35; p < 0.0001; I(2) = 91.84%), sneezing (ES• = −1.24; p < 0.0001; I(2) = 91.43%), nasal pruritus (ES• = −1.10; p < 0.0001; I(2) = 91.43%); nasal obstruction (ES• = −1.11; p < 0.0001; I(2) = 91.88%). The effects were more significant in perennial allergic rhinitis than in the seasonal type. CONCLUSION: Considering the effect size and the statistical significance attained in our study, rhinophototherapy showed to be an effective treatment for reducing the nasal symptom scores triggered by AR.